Could Jose Reyes end up on the Phillies?

If Derek Jeter wouldn't switch positions for Alex Rodriguez, he isn't likely to do so for Jose Reyes. But plenty of other teams could be in the market at the end of this year for an under-30, All-Star caliber shortstop. And one of those teams could be the Phillies.

Here's a quote from an NL East GM at the end of last season:

I think we'll probably let things, at this time, play out. There's some concern about his production the last couple of years. He's a much better player than he's played. We just have to make sure he's healthy.

Sounds like Mets GM Sandy Alderson talking about Reyes today. But it was Phillies GM Ruben Amaro talking about Jimmy Rollins, who is now entering the final year of his contract. Rollins just turned 32. Last season, he played in just 88 games, and had an OPS of only .694. In 2009, Rollins' OPS was just .719.

It's hard to imagine the Phillies replacing Rollins with a hated Met, especially Reyes. But a few years ago, it would have been even harder to imagine that the next regular Yankee centerfielder after Bernie Williams would be Red Sox "idiot" Johnny Damon.

Rollins will make $8.5 million this year. Raul Ibanez, whose contract also expires at the end of the season, makes $10.5 million. If the Phillies decide to part ways with Rollins, they will have money to spend at shortstop.

Today, Alderson claimed that the financial situation now facing Mets ownership won't affect whether or not the Mets re-sign Reyes:

I fully expect that decision will be made as it would have been, in the best interest of the team on the field, and the best interest of the overall sort of financial health as well as baseball future of the Mets -- as it would be with any other team.

But Alderson also said today that the Mets may not be plowing all the money that will come off the books after 2011 back into the team:

You may know recent Mets history better than I. I don't know if we've gotten this high in the past. One never wants to rest at one extreme or the other. My sense is that our payroll is a little higher this year than I would have liked to have been, but we are where we are. Whether that means we drop back in future years to some extent, I don't know. But we will continue to expend money at very high levels and I think be among the highest payrolls in baseball."

It's hard to believe that Alderson and his "dream team" are unaware of the Mets' payroll history. And if they don't know recent Mets history as well as they should, they should look back to 2005-8, when Reyes earned MVP votes four straight years and was the offensive catalyst when the team was a playoff contender.

If Reyes can't stay healthy yet again this season, the Mets have a difficult decision to make. But a healthy Reyes belongs on the Mets. Not on another team such as the Red Sox, which might also need a shortstop. And certainly not on the Phillies.

Famous Last Words: Hal Steinbrenner has "no problem" with Brian Cashman

The New York Post's Joel Sherman has an exclusive interview with Hal Steinbrenner today, with Hal saying that he has "no problem" with what Brian Cashman is doing:

 "[Cashman] and I have a great working relationship," Steinbrenner said by phone, "There is no problem, right now. I think we have had a bunch of drummed-up drama."

....When asked if he imagined wanting to keep Cashman beyond 2011, Steinbrenner said: "Yes, absolutely. I think Brian does a great job. We need to sit and talk, but now is not the time for that."

Sherman writes that Steinbrenner "blessed Cashman's behavior at the [Rafael Soriano] press conference":

"I keep reading about dissension and discord. We are a well-functioning company. The bosses have a decision to make. Sometimes people don't agree with those decisions. So I told him, 'You are always honest with the media, be honest now. Tell them what you have to tell them.' I was already onto the next decision. I told him, 'You and I are fine. Answer in any way you want.' We are not always going to be on the same page. It is my job to think what is best for the family, partners and company."

But here's the thing Sherman didn't ask Hal Steinbrenner: If the Yankees were so fine with Cashman speaking out at the Soriano presser, then why didn't they air the press conference live on the YES Network? What, the network the Yankees own couldn't interrupt the gazillionth showing of the Luis Castillo Yankees Classic game in favor of showing their only big free agent signing of the offseason? Come on now.

I have watched a lot of Yankee free agent press conferences on TV over the years, and ever since the YES Network launched, every single one of them have been aired on the network. Except for the Soriano one. Why is that?

Brian Cashman may be the Yankees GM in 2012, or he may not be. But there is no way, even in Yankeeland, that the Steinbrenners are going to publicly express anything but confidence in their GM right now. Do you really think Hal or even Hank is about to say, "What the bleep is going on with Cash? He's having a midlife crisis right before our eyes!" Of course not.

Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams seemed to be all BFF with head coach Jeff Fisher, too, even saying just a few weeks ago that he would be back next year, until the two parted ways yesterday. So you never know what can happen.

If the Yankees win the World Series this year, I would guess Cashman would be back. But even then, he could always walk away after winning. You never know what could happen.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Do you think Yankees messed up Joba Chamberlain? Brian Cashman sez you're "stupid"

I'm really starting to think Brian Cashman contracted Joe Torre Disease this offseason. The symptoms include believing you're bigger than the Yankees, waging a battle in the media against real or perceived enemies in the front office, and thinking that your you-know-what doesn't stink.

Funny thing is, I have agreed with many of Cashman's moves over the years. Don't forget, he traded for Alex Rodriguez and Bobby Abreu and Nick Swisher, and believed in Robinson Cano before anybody else knew who the second baseman was. Cashman's pickup of David Justice won the Yankees the 2000 World Series, and his stealth swoop of Mark Teixeira helped win the Yankees the 2009 title.

All that being said, the GM seems to have made a lot of inexplicable moves and comments as of late. The latest is Cashman's interview with ESPN NY's Wally Matthews, in which he says that anybody who disagrees with the way the team handled Joba Chamberlain is "stupid":

 "Those people are stupid,'' Cashman said of critics of the Yankees' handling of Chamberlain. "It's just an easy, stupid, idiotic thing to say. There's no screwing anything up. That's how Andy Pettitte came in, that's how guys have been broken in for years. They're starters in the minor leagues, they come up and we use them in the 'pen, and eventually they break into the rotation. So what's the problem? I just think it's naïve."

Aside from the fact that it's pretty insulting to suggest that anybody who disagrees with Cashman is "stupid" and "idiotic," Cashman's Pettitte comparison is inaccurate. Do you know how many relief appearances Pettitte made in 1995, before breaking in to the starting rotation? Five. Do you know how many relief appearances Chamberlain made before becoming a starter? 41. Not exactly the same thing. Not to mention that Petttitte was never moved back and forth repeatedly, the way Joba was.

Pettitte, as a rookie with the Yanks, made five relief appearances over seven innings from April 29 to May 13, 2005. The last of the five was 3.1 innings. Pettitte broke into the starting rotation on May 27 of that year and never looked back. Compare and contrast with Chamberlain, who went from reliever to starter to reliever to starter to reliever to competing to be the starter to reliever. It's enough to make your head spin -- and to help mess up a pithcer.

I do think there is more to the story as to why Joba hasn't been the same pitcher he was in 2007. The injury issue -- what Cashman finally acknowledged the other day -- matters, as does him not appearing to have the determination that, say, Cano had to improve his game. The article also mentions rumors about Chamberlain "burning the candle at both ends."

So I'm not saying that all the moving around is the sole reason Joba is no longer Joba. But it is at least part of it. And why Cashman doesn't want to acknowledge any responsibility is infuriating.

Heck, even Joe Girardi, who is also interviewed in the article, says, "I think there can be some confusion for a player when you're bounced around like that." But what does he know? I guess he's just, um, "stupid." Right, Brian?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Brian Cashman and Hank Steinbrenner speak out on the state of the Yankees

Hank Steinbrenner said Brian Cashman never got to personally meet with Cliff Lee when negotiating with him, and Steinbrenner blames it on the deer. In an extensive interview with Kevin Kernan, Yammering Hank explains:

"The fans pay the bills, we owe it to ourselves and to them to put the best product out there," Hank said. "If we couldn't get Cliff Lee, I'm really happy about getting Soriano. I just wish Lee would have given Brian the chance to meet with him, but [Lee] was on a hunting trip. He's got his own reasons."

A six-week hunting trip? What was Lee hunting -- the woolly mammoth?

And this is the first I've heard that Cashman didn't meet with Lee -- there was a whole to-do at the beginning of the free agent season about how Cash flew out to Arkansas to see him. What's the real story here?

At any rate, it seems that Lee's reported aversion to meeting with Cashman was a big honking clue that he wasn't coming here. So the current spin that the Yanks were stymied/blindsided by the rejection is just that -- spin.

The whole Hank interview is worth a read -- he predicted bounceback years for pretty much everybody in pinstripes, too. He also said the Yankees "just need to [bleeping] win"!


Anyhow, I noted yesterday about how Brian Cashman tried to justify his talking about Derek Jeter moving to center field by blaming the setting. He's continuing with that lame excuse in today's John Harper column:

"This is not a news event," he said. "I was having a baseball chat with fans. It was not a declaration of what we intend to do with Derek. It was hypothetical. It's no different than talking about Randy Johnson, when he was a Yankee, and saying that if he got to the point where he wasn't starting anymore, he could be a great short reliever."

Nonsense. Cashman made this comments at a breakfast in front of 150 fans and Mike Francesa, the biggest radio personality in town. Did he really think he could keep this quiet? What a lame excuse.

Besides, his answer wasn't a hypothetical. The Yankees have Jeter under contract for the next four years, and this is an issue they will have to face.  And does Cashman really think that comparing Jeter, the most beloved Yankee of his generation, to Randy Johnson's future is "no different"? Come on now. And I say that as someone who completely agreed with Cashman's stance on Jeter this offseason.

One other tidbit from Cashman's interview with Harper:

"My job isn't to make friends," he said. "My job is to do what's right for the organization. I'll do what I'm paid to do at all costs."

Forget about the talk of Cashman being a GM elsewhere next season. The whole "I'm not here to make friends" is straight out of every competitive reality show! I'm thinking "Survivor" will have Boston Rob oppose Cashman next year!

What do you think? Squawk back!

Shocker: Derek Jeter does not make GQ's '25 Coolest Athletes' list

GQ Magazine has a cover story this month naming the 25 Coolest Athletes of All Time. The article itself is not online yet on GQ's website, although USA Today has a copy of the list, in alphabetical order. And I have a lot of issues with the list.

There are no women on it (wasn't Billie Jean King cool? How about Jennie Finch or Brandi Chastain?), the "All Time" in the name seems to cover only the last 50 years, and there are way too many weird choices (Ted Turner? Gary Player?) But the biggest shocker is that Derek Jeter, arguably the coolest athete of his generation, does not make the cut. Ridiculous.

I'm sorry, but if you don't have Jeter on the Coolest Athletes list, then you've got nothing. Tom Brady, Allen Iverson, and Tim Lincecum made the list, but the Captain didn't. Neither did Mickey Mantle, or Reggie Jackson, or Rickey Henderson or any other Yankee (and only two baseball players are on the list -- Lincecum and Bob Gibson.) Even hockey player Derek Sanderson makes the list, but Derek Sanderson Jeter doesn't? C'mon now.

Jeter ought to be on the "25 Coolest Athletes' list just based on all the celebrities he's dated over the years. As a friend of mine notes, Jeter had Mariah Carey as his girlfriend when that really meant something. Not to mention all the other women, like Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Alba and Jessica Biel.

I've heard one definition of cool being the kind of guy that other men want to be, and that women want to date. Jeter's picture ought to be in the dictionary with that definition!

No matter how overhyped Jeter's been as a player, you can not underrate his coolness factor. There's a reason so many advertisers have paid him so much money to pitch their products. And any so-called "Coolest Athlete" list that doesn't have Jeter is simply worthless.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Brian Cashman sez Derek Jeter is the center fielder of the future

Brian Cashman participated in WFAN's "Breakfast With a Champion" series this morning. Mike Francesa interviewed him on a slew of topics, and social media maven -- and espnW blogger -- Amanda Rykoff tweeted the event. Because Cashman was pretty candid, some of his words are already causing a whole to-do, like his idea of one day putting Derek Jeter in center field.

Cash said, "I'd be surprised if he plays SS for all 4 years. I see him moving to OF." He later explained, "I like corner outfielders and corner infielders who have power, so for me, if he's ever gonna move, it's probably gonna be a Robin Yount situation. But we don't have to deal with it at this point. We'll deal with it when we have to."


I can't see Jeter ever being a center fielder. Yount moved off shortstop when he was 29; Jeter is already 36. And if he can't hit for average any more, there really isn't a spot for him in the Yankee lineup. Of course, Cashman can't say that, so he brought up center field, which also happens to be a glamour position in Yankeeland. What else is he going to say? After all, even though the captain did say last month he was in the "middle" of his career, he really isn't.

I really don't have a problem with what Cash said about Jeter at the breakfast. What does irk me a little is the way he tried to backtrack from his comments, as Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports:

Cashman said that he answered the fan's question in that fashion because it was not in a formal setting.


"This was not a press conference where we are talking about something that may never happen," Cashman said.

Please. He's speaking in public, at an event where hundreds of fans paid to attend, and where the top radio figure in New York hosted. How could Cashman not think what he said would not get out? And what difference does it make what the setting was? If you're the GM of the biggest team in baseball, you pretty much have to assume that everything you say can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion. Heck, I'm careful with what I say on Facebook and Twitter for that reason, and I'm nobody!

I also thought it was interesting that when Cashman asked who the best Yankee he's ever seen, he said it was Mariano Rivera, and not Jeter. (That's my answer, too, so I don't exactly disagree with that assessment -- I just think it's interesting that he didn't say Jeter.)

There were apparently a few other candid Cashman comments:

* He finally acknowledged that Joba Chamberlain hasn't been the same pitcher since he was injured in Texas in 2008 when he was a starter. (Which begs the question, why was there the whole "competition" between Hughes and Chamberlain last spring training for the starting spot?)

* When asked who was better, right now, Yankees or Red Sox, he said the Red Sox, but that the Yankees had a better bullpen. No thanks to him, though!

* Cashman said this about A.J. Burnett: "He knows he has a problem and he's doing all he can to fix it." That's a very strange way to describe the Burnett situation, unless he's getting at something else!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

On the Jets and whether the Steelers are the Yankees of the NFL

I watched the AFC Championship Game with Squawker Jon on Sunday, and I felt like somebody punched me in the stomach during the first half. So that's what it means to root for the Jets? Yikes!

At least the Jets showed some real fight after getting knocked down, the way the Yankees really didn't in last year's ALCS, so they've got that going for them.

But so much for my great "Jets are gonna win the Super Bowl" prediction. Grrrrrr. It figures that the Rex Ryan tribute t-shirt I ordered didn't arrive until Monday, just in time for me to miss wearing it during the game. Kind of like how the Jets' offense got there a little too late for them to win. Anyhow, Jon noted that at least I only had a day pass for the Jets' bandwagon! Heh.

I cannot claim to be a "long-suffering Jets fan," but I do have experience, though, waiting for a long time for a team I root for to win. It was 18 years between championships for the Yankees. And it was over 35 years between Texas Longhorns football titles, and given that the previous one happened when I was in the playpen, I basically waited my entire life for that championship.

Anyhow, I griped to Squawker Jon Sunday that I couldn't possibly root for Pittsburgh, as I was sick of seeing them over and over in the Super Bowl. He noted that some baseball fans felt the same way about seeing the Yankees in the World Series. To which my brother later noted, the Yanks have only been in one WS since 2003!

So, despite whatever parallels there are between the Steelers and the Yankees, I will be rooting for Green Bay -- what better way to stick it to Brett Favre than to have them win it all without him! 

What do you think? Tell us about it!